Is it permissible to kill the ants that are in the houses?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : Regarding the ants that sometimes come into the houses, ants like this, they come to the food sometimes or something like that, meaning you find the cleanliness is always there, but—subhan Allah—on a piece of bread or something like that, they come, but it is not excessive; so what does that mean?
The Shaykh : Yes, by Allah, Allahu Akbar.
The questioner : So, the person, I know that—Allah knows best—there is a prohibition against killing ants, how should he do it?
The Shaykh : Yes, the prohibition against killing ants is correct, but if no harm results for the people of the house from it, whereas merely seeing this phenomenon; this is not an excuse for killing them.
The questioner : Outside, I mean.
The Shaykh : Ah, that is from one side, from another side, if we suppose that there is harm; it should be used something to drive them away and expel them, and not to kill them, so if the harm does not cease except by killing, then at that time killing is permissible, so this sequence is necessary.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And the truth is that our Lord—Mighty and Majestic—His wisdom and power in His creation is very amazing, I was thinking about this small ant, you see its head connected to its body by a neck which is a thread, put your hand on the ant wanting to kill it, crush it, it does not die except with very severe crushing, I said: Subhan Rabi! What is this divine power?! This must be torn apart, you find it gets up and walks... yesterday I was leaving the house and I saw something amazing, I have a rooster, I did not see anything but it advanced to dry land, and you know the heavy rains fell, then the dryness and drought, what does the land become?
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : It becomes you put it from..., I did not see anything but the rooster came to a piece of land and started scratching in a way as if it was being chased, then "caw-caw" it called the chickens, I did not see anything but one ran and picked up something, and some of the other chickens saw it, they started chasing it, I was sure and when I found a worm in its mouth. I said: Subhan Allah! What did this rooster know that it would scratch here to look for the worm? And from its smell—the rooster is cited as an example—it puts its chickens before itself, "caw-caw" and it called the chickens, one got ahead and... and it started turning and circling.
The questioner : ... one of them went... !!
The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, "" better ""[Taha 20:50]. In my time I was in a farm there in Damascus, there they have irrigation, so the owner of the land directed the water for irrigation, he was planting eggplants, I did not see anything but a bird circling, flying like this, turning, turning, turning around an eggplant seedling, I contemplated what it wanted by circling in this place? A bird they call a circling bird, do you call it that?
The questioner : Circling.
The Shaykh : Okay, Lebanon, I did not see anything but it descended, and perched and sat on a branch of the eggplant seedling, and the lowest branch to the ground! Allahu Akbar! I will never forget this sight in my life, a soft eggplant branch, he put on this branch, the branch bent, until it almost touched the water, and the bird sees us, we call it in Syria "halush," meaning a ground worm of this length and thickness with few legs, it chews the roots of plants, I do not know what you call it, does the engineer not have knowledge of this worm?
The questioner : A ground worm of the types of earthworms whose work is to chew the seeds of trees.
The Shaykh : We call it what? Halush, the important thing is this does not live in water, it makes a house there in the roots, when the water started irrigating this land, it was disturbed and came up to the surface of the land, the water pulled it away, it started trying what? To get rid of it, the bird from above saw it, how can it reach it? It is flying, it cannot reach it; because it is heavy for the bird, so Allah inspired it to descend on the branch, and the branch descended over the halush and it picked it up and flew, Allahu Akbar!
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : They say: So-and-so—a person, I mean—so-and-so is an animal who does not understand, by Allah the animal understands!!
[Everyone laughs!]
The Shaykh : Yes, by Allah, Allahu Akbar.
The questioner : So, the person, I know that—Allah knows best—there is a prohibition against killing ants, how should he do it?
The Shaykh : Yes, the prohibition against killing ants is correct, but if no harm results for the people of the house from it, whereas merely seeing this phenomenon; this is not an excuse for killing them.
The questioner : Outside, I mean.
The Shaykh : Ah, that is from one side, from another side, if we suppose that there is harm; it should be used something to drive them away and expel them, and not to kill them, so if the harm does not cease except by killing, then at that time killing is permissible, so this sequence is necessary.
The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.
The Shaykh : And the truth is that our Lord—Mighty and Majestic—His wisdom and power in His creation is very amazing, I was thinking about this small ant, you see its head connected to its body by a neck which is a thread, put your hand on the ant wanting to kill it, crush it, it does not die except with very severe crushing, I said: Subhan Rabi! What is this divine power?! This must be torn apart, you find it gets up and walks... yesterday I was leaving the house and I saw something amazing, I have a rooster, I did not see anything but it advanced to dry land, and you know the heavy rains fell, then the dryness and drought, what does the land become?
Another questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : It becomes you put it from..., I did not see anything but the rooster came to a piece of land and started scratching in a way as if it was being chased, then "caw-caw" it called the chickens, I did not see anything but one ran and picked up something, and some of the other chickens saw it, they started chasing it, I was sure and when I found a worm in its mouth. I said: Subhan Allah! What did this rooster know that it would scratch here to look for the worm? And from its smell—the rooster is cited as an example—it puts its chickens before itself, "caw-caw" and it called the chickens, one got ahead and... and it started turning and circling.
The questioner : ... one of them went... !!
The Shaykh : Allahu Akbar, "" better ""
each thing its form and then guided [it]."
كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَىThe questioner : Circling.
The Shaykh : Okay, Lebanon, I did not see anything but it descended, and perched and sat on a branch of the eggplant seedling, and the lowest branch to the ground! Allahu Akbar! I will never forget this sight in my life, a soft eggplant branch, he put on this branch, the branch bent, until it almost touched the water, and the bird sees us, we call it in Syria "halush," meaning a ground worm of this length and thickness with few legs, it chews the roots of plants, I do not know what you call it, does the engineer not have knowledge of this worm?
The questioner : A ground worm of the types of earthworms whose work is to chew the seeds of trees.
The Shaykh : We call it what? Halush, the important thing is this does not live in water, it makes a house there in the roots, when the water started irrigating this land, it was disturbed and came up to the surface of the land, the water pulled it away, it started trying what? To get rid of it, the bird from above saw it, how can it reach it? It is flying, it cannot reach it; because it is heavy for the bird, so Allah inspired it to descend on the branch, and the branch descended over the halush and it picked it up and flew, Allahu Akbar!
The questioner : ... .
The Shaykh : They say: So-and-so—a person, I mean—so-and-so is an animal who does not understand, by Allah the animal understands!!
[Everyone laughs!]
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.